At Westminster school, the scholar Camden recognized Johnson's exceptional literary gifts and took the young man under his tutelage. Though Johnson never received a university education, Camden's instruction proved more than adequate. He became one of the most learned men of Elizabethan times and eventually received honorary degrees from both universities.

Perhaps in remembrance of his father, Johnson enlisted with the English supporters of the Protestant Hollanders who were defending their religious and political libert

ies against Catholicism and Spanish rule. The fiery young poet proved to be as formidable with the sword as he was with the pen. In one particular act of bravado, he advanced before the English volunteers, challenged a Spaniard to single combat, slew him, and then--in classic Homeric tradition--stripped the corpse of its armor.

Johnson plunged himself into the bohemian life of the city, drank alot, acted (badly), doctored Thomas Keyd’s Spanish Tragedy for Phillip Henslowe, and adapted two Roman comedies in The Case Is Altered. But it was not until 1598 that he finally emerged from the crowd of unrecognized playwrights with Every Man in His Humour. Dedicated to Master Camden, Every Man in His Humour is a masterpiece of its kind. It draws a telling portrait of the follies of the time--one huge canvas of the Elizabethan age.

The next year, Johnson produced what is generally considered to be his masterpiece. In Volpone, a rich merc

Some topics in this essay:
Chapman Marston, Catholicism Spanish, Johnson Westminster, Gabriel Spencer, Camden Humour, Mary Tudor--had, Eastward Ho, Phillip Henslowe, Ben Johnson, Protestant Hollanders, ben johnson, elizabethan times,